


Monty's Guide to Roommates and University

by guardiansofthefantasy



Series: Monty's Guide to Social Media and Reallife [1]
Category: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Series - Mackenzi Lee
Genre: (/university), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Back to School, Don't copy to another site, Friendship, Moving In Together, Percy has a service dog, Social Media, Youtuber AU, they go shopping, unpacking together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 07:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guardiansofthefantasy/pseuds/guardiansofthefantasy
Summary: Youtube AU in which they're both in universityAfter Percy's roommate spontaneously moves out at the beginning of their break, Monty finally moves in with Percy. After being long time friends online and offline, it's a dream for both of them coming true to create more videos together.





	Monty's Guide to Roommates and University

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Livesinbooks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livesinbooks/gifts).



> This probably already exists in this fandom but here we go

“I've got great news. Exactly, I think three hours ago, I finished moving in. Which means I now have an own room.” Monty stretches his arms out to bring the attention to his rather empty room behind him. There are still boxes around him, half unpacked, but he figured an announcement video would do good. His viewers had to live without videos for a few weeks now and he does feel a bit bad.

“And that means of course that I no longer have to deal with my former roommate and can film whenever the hell I want.” He flashes a smile at the camera, dimples and all.

“I still have to share kitchen and bath and living room with a roommate, but I can assure you that won't be too bad. It's finally a dream coming true. But more about that later. In another announcement video, more official and all.” He leans forward and turns off the camera. It'll be a vlog long enough to let them know he's still alive and that soon videos would be back at their irregular-regular schedule.

“Monty?” His new roommate Percy looks into the room.

“Yeah, I'm right here.” Monty smiles and gets up. “Hi.”  
Percy’s hair had grown longer during the stressful weeks of finals and either Percy hadn't been able to find a hairdresser over their semester break or he had the intention to let it grow out some more. Monty likes it, obviously, because it suits him.

“Hi. Do you need some help?” Percy slips into the room and looks around. Before Monty moved in, he had another roommate here, who suddenly moved out at the end of the semester. Percy had yet to tell him the reason why.

For Monty it had been spontaneous to move in, but not a hard decision to make. Percy had asked and Monty had wanted an own room for a while (his own former roommate got onto his nerves as well.)

So, here he was. All he unpacked so far are his camera (still sitting on two boxes from when he filmed a minute ago) and his bedsheets. Similar to his own dorm room, there was empty furniture already waiting to be filled with his books and other belongings.

Monty owns a ridiculous amount of books for someone who isn't even that fond of reading.

Some are birthday gifts and recommendations from Percy and his sister Felicity, most are history books he needs for his classes or bought for further research and information. (Totally unnecessary, considering he has access to the campus library at any time of the day.) Monty just appreciates the aesthetic of those books. They make him look like a smart guy and they're a great background in his videos.

Percy looks around, crunching up his face. Monty gives him a light grin. “Don't say it didn't look this bad when you moved in.”

“I'm just wondering whether you have a system to your boxes.” Percy picks up the camera and puts it down on the desk. “If you want to move around some furniture, I think now would be the best time. Where do you want to film?”

“I thought in front of the shelf,” Monty says and moves around the boxes. “And then I'd keep this space free for the camera and all.”

Percy nods. “Okay. So it's all fine?”

“Yes. I just don't want to unpack.” Monty groans dramatically and throws himself onto his bed.

He hears Percy manoeuvring through the boxes towards him and then he feels him flop onto the bed next to him.

Monty turns his face to look at him. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Percy whispers back. They lie still for a moment.

“I'm glad you're here.”

Monty grins. “Of course.”

“We can finally film more regularly,” Percy says and starts to smile.

“I know.” Percy drops a hand from his stomach onto the bed next to Monty's and Monty takes it. “It'll be glorious.” He laughs quietly, but Percy only smiles a bit. Monty suspects there's something he doesn't tell him and he wants to press about it, but Percy closes his eyes. So Monty lets him and enjoys the moment instead.

After a while Monty thinks he should probably get up and start unpacking, so he moves a bit. Percy doesn't. “Hey. Perce.” No response. “Did you fall asleep?”

Percy did, in fact, fall asleep, so Monty slowly pulls his hand away and sits up. Then he climbs over his friend and manages not to hit him with his feet or knees.

Monty is currently sorting his books after colour, surrounded by opened boxes and random items scattered around on the closed boxes, surfaces and on the floor around him, when Percy sits up. Some strands fell loose from his bun and he tucks them behind his ear.

“What are you doing?”

“I'm sorting my books.”

“By colour?” There's a flash of horror on Percy’s face and he rests his elbows on his knees.

“Yes. It looks nice.”

“But you'll never find the book you're looking for. It's totally impractical.”

“The aesthetic beats the practicality!”

“It does not!” Percy lets his eyes wander through the room. “I did not think you'd bring so much clutter.”

“Not everyone can be organised,” Monty replies as a matter of fact and he hears Percy huff out a quiet laugh.

“Your videos suggest differently.”

“Ah yes, that.” Monty shrugs and grins at Percy. “I'm still trying to actually use my own methods and make them work.”

“You're such a scam,” Percy grins and slips to the floor as well.

“I’m not.” He's hit with a stuffed animal. “Hey!”

“Do you want my help?”

“Only if you promise not to ruin my book order.”

Percy grimaces, as if it pains him to promise that, just so Monty knows how horrible he thinks that order is, but he nods. “Promise.”

Percy is a surprisingly good help with the colours. He's being kind of a jerk about it though, the way he points it out, a constant mock against Monty's book sorting preference.

“There isn't much to sort with all these boring history books,” Percy says and then he sorts them in right anyway.

Monty appreciates it a lot. He doesn't tell Percy, of course.

They're still surrounded by things when they put away all the books. Monty just owns too much.

“There's no way I'll help you with your underwear,” Percy declares when Monty moves to his clothes.

“Why not? I have an exquisite taste.”

“Totally not.” Percy gets up and grabs his button-up shirt. He treats it like a jacket, wearing it over T-Shirts.

Monty pouts, which usually gets him at least part of what he wants, but Percy is unfairly immune to it. He pats Monty's hair as we walks past him through the mess, for which he has to lean down a little. It seems like awfully much effort for a gesture that unnecessary.

He and Percy record their first video after moving in together a few days later. They're finally continuing their Sims Let's Play and also use the chance to drop the news on their gaming channel.

Monty did expect the change in their living situation to be received with a lot of optimism and excitement from their fans, but nothing could've prepared him for the actual amount, no, flood of positive responses.

“Monty? I’ll be out with the dog, should I bring something for dinner?”

Monty looks up from his phone he’s been scrolling through for hours and nods. “That would be cool.” #Mercy is trending on Twitter. He smiles to himself and opens their channel again, scrolling through the comments.

Monty is very much aware that he has an addiction problem. Though he obviously wouldn’t call it one, not in a million years. He just likes being on social media, that’s all. No addiction involved. He may have a laziness problem though, or a procrastination problem. There’s a pile of homework and assignments somewhere in his partly tidied up room.

He hasn’t found his university work yet.

Percy probably would’ve been finished with unpacking and sorting everything in long ago, but Monty just can’t get himself to go through all the boxes. He has unpacked the most important things, his books, some clothes (he goes through the same few outfits on a three-day-basis currently) and his filming equipment.

“You still haven’t moved?,” Percy asks, more surprised than accusing, when he comes home. Monty barely looks up.

“You brought pizza.”

“Yes.” Percy vanishes into the kitchen to put them down, while Monty lets himself get distracted by Percy’s dog, Berry.

“Hey, don’t distract my service dog while he’s working,” Percy scolds fondly, putting down the pizzas on the couch table.

“He distracted me!,” Monty defends himself, sitting up with his feet on the couch and grabbing a slice. “Have you seen Twitter?”

“No, I was busy with my assignments. I do want to get them done someday, unlike others.” Percy glances over to Monty meaningfully and Monty rolls his eyes.

“I would do them, you know? If I found them.”

“I’m sure if we looked together, we’d find them easily.”

“Maybe, but back to Twitter. We’re trending in the UK. Look.” Monty shoves his phone into Percy’s face. “Number three, even.”

“I don’t know,” Percy replies, gently pushing Monty’s hand back down. “Could be about that one song.”

“No. Look, just be happy! We’re famous”

“I don’t understand what for. Because we’re roommates now?”

“Oh my god, _we are roommates!_ ,” Monty imitates and grins brightly.

“Shut up,” Percy laughs and presses his foot against Monty’s leg.

Monty reaches over and grabs another slice. “All the potential. Have you known about our glorious shipname?”

“Of course I have, you bother me with that topic every other day.” Percy does not seem bothered at all when Monty dives into reading out some tweets.

It is admittedly way harder to get his room done than it needed to be. But Monty is proud and doesn't like asking for help and the few times Percy offered to help, he eventually managed to scare him away with his attitude. It isn't Monty's fault that he and Percy have so different ideas about how an organised room should look.

Monty did consider hiding his university assignments somewhere he won't find them again in order to get out of doing them, but Percy had taken them to the kitchen to keep them there safely until Monty's room was done.

Only because of Percy Monty even starts doing them on the last days of the break. It's a lot and it's certainly not meant to be done within a few days, but it's not like Monty has a choice anymore.

He still finds way out of his work. First of all, because the new semester starts soon, he needs to make a haul.

Monty manages to convince Percy to go shopping and take a break from university work. It actually wasn’t as hard as he expected it to be, he just told Percy he needed a break and wanted to buy some things and now they’re at the mall with Percy’s dog.

Monty has his camera with him for b-roll and also for his personal memory videos. He just really likes to document his life and everything that’s more private will stay private and become a part of his own videos he only shares with family and friends.

“So… where do you want to go first?,” Percy asks, hands fiddling with the leash of Berry.

Monty grins and confidently walks into the first shop offering office supplies.

Shopping with Percy can be rather frustrating at times, when he has to wait outside the shop because dogs aren’t allowed. The mall is rather calm about it, luckily, so Percy is trailing along behind him, picking out expensive pencils from the shelf and roasting them.

It’s super precious.

“What’s so special about this? I’ve seen nicer pencils for less money.”

Monty turns around and watches Percy put back a simple grey pencil. “Maybe the quality of the food,” he suggests and Percy laughs.

“I prefer these super cheap ones. The even glitter!”

Monty grins and walks along, collecting the few things he needs.

When they’re paying, Percy is still carrying the turquoise glitter pencil, so Monty buys it as well.

Percy smiles winningly and Monty decides the twenty pence were totally worth spending on that glitter pencil. They sit down in a café after their shopping spree and this time, Percy insists to pay, which is just unfair.

But Monty doesn’t argue, so they both enjoy their coffee and talk about YouTube, recent memes and their upcoming courses. Monty is careful not to mention Percy’s former roommate, because he doesn’t want to ruin the mood and something tells him that it’s not a topic Percy wants to talk about.

Monty still has to film the haul, which is why, as soon as Percy has left their apartment to walk Berry, he jumps up and flees into his room. He’s so sick of Louis XV and XVI and the whole French monarchy.

Monty sets up his camera, collects the needed things and sits down in front of it.

“Hey everyone, it’s me again. Since the new semester is coming up in… two days I thought it was about time for me to shoot another back to school haul.” Monty grins a little and he knows how unnecessary these videos are because he has at least five others on his channel already, but his viewers kind of expect them of him and it’s also a lot of fun.

“As you might know I recently moved, so a few things I had got lost and needed replacement. First of all, here’s the things that survived the move and are still good to use for another year. That’s a very important thing many youtubers leave out in their back to school videos, but it’s totally valid to use things again and again. You don’t need to constantly buy new supplies each year. Here’s a funfact, I actually went through my whole school career using the same pack of coloured pencils and I wrote my A-Levels with two advertising ballpoint pens.”

The door opens next to him and Monty turns to look. “Oh, hi, Perce. I’m filming right now.”

He’d cut it out later. (He won’t cut it all out, only if it’s a conversation too private for the internet, because it’s now part of his life that Percy might interrupt his videos. Monty finds it endearing.)

“Yes. I can see that.” Percy frowns a bit. “Don’t you have assignments to finish?”

“Whaaat? Me? Nah. I think you’re mistaking me with someone.” Monty gives him his most innocent smile and Percy slightly rolls his eyes, turning away.

“Hey, close the door!”

Percy huffs and closes the door. “Are you happy now, _your majesty?_ ,” he asks through the door and Monty laughs.

“Yes, thank you so much.”

A few moments later he hears Percy cursing him in the kitchen. He probably stumbled over Monty’s unfinished essay about one of the Kings called Louis. Monty wonders if it’ll be heard on the recording and grins at the camera, spreading his arms.

“Welcome to my life. From now on it has Percy interrupting my videos in it. I hope you don’t mind it, because I certainly don’t.”

He reaches out to his older supplies.

“So. We’ll start with the things I didn’t buy, so here we have my old pencil case that has been with me for years.”

He shows it off and then goes through the other things he didn’t need to buy.

“And now we’ll get to the part you’ve all been waiting for, which is the haul.” He lifts the bag with the new supplies.

“First off, we have this… pencil. Okay, that’s not mine, that’s actually Percy’s and I have no idea why we bought it, but yeah. It glitters.” Monty shows it to the camera for a moment and puts it back aside. Then he goes through the new things he did buy, a pack of pencils for himself, a new eraser because he always loses his, a new notebook that cost more than a simple notebook needed to cost, but it sparkles.

Monty spends more time editing the video than necessary and in the evening, Percy brings him simple dinner-- a plate of pasta. The gesture is nice and Monty is very grateful to have something to eat.

What’s surprising and new is Percy sitting down in his room and starting a light conversation with him while he eats. Monty supposes that’s part of living together now and he absolutely doesn’t mind it.

What he does mind (not really) is Percy making him do his assignments. It’s probably good and rational, but it still sucks, because it’s a lot of work and at this point it doesn’t interest Monty at all, even though he kind of likes history.

But now, that he freshly moved in and got rid of his rather annoying former dormmate, he’d much prefer to play video games with Percy all day or film more videos for his own channel. He finally has the time and an own room to do it, and university keeping him from it is just unfair.

Monty is not finished with his assignments when the break is over, which means he has extra work to do on top of everything else. It’s not a good example, because he’s rather organized on his channel and one of his many study tips is definitely to avoid procrastination.

Percy isn’t helping either, every time Monty would complain, he’d give him a look that very clearly said _told you so._

Not that Monty could be mad about that, at all.


End file.
